Around 1st grade, I would see my neighbors Neil and Nate play Magic. I didn't understand it back then, and why everyone was so afraid of Leviathan, but I did like the pictures.
Anyway, around 3rd grade, my friend Shane taught me about Pokemon. We were big Pokemon freaks. (We're still freaks, but we hate Pokemon)
When the Pokemon TCG came out, I would play it
and I taught my friend Seth how to play. My neighbor Neil played Magic, and he gave us some crappy decks and taught us to see the light of Magic over the evil of Pokemon. I always lost, and we and Seth saw Neil as the undefeatable Magic God. (I beat him most of the time now)
I got more and more cards, but still played Pokemon. In 5th grade I almost turned to the dark side, and left Magic...
Around the end of 5th grade I began to see how stupid Pokemon was, and how no skill was required at all. I quit playing Pokemon near the end of the year, and by 6th grade, I hated Pokemon and left it forever, gave all of my useless pieces of Pokemon cardboard to my little cousins, stupid Ebay people, and the fire. Now I help hackers destroy Pokemon boards. =D
I have beaten Neil many times. I still remember the very first time I did. Strangely, I could not beat Neil until I quit playing Pokemon. I beat Seth most of the time, but he has a very annoying R/B deck.
I've never played against Nate, becuase he was always too busy with school to play MTG. Now he's in college.